Giza Zoo’s Last African Elephant Passed Away, Should this be Our Wakeup Call?

Yesterday, the Ministry of Agriculture officials have announced the death of the last African elephant in Giza Zoo. According to their report, Naiema, who passed away at the age of 40, had struggled with a disease for some time, and although the report details how a number of highly-skilled veterinarians worked tirelessly to rescue her, she succumbed to a heart stroke last Sunday.

Ever since her arrival in 1983 when she was just four years of age, Naiema was a fan-favorite staple of the Giza Zoo. Visitors, from all age groups, were in love with her, and many of them remembered how happy they were when visiting her, but was Naiema happy?

Over the years, the quality of animal welfare in Giza Zoo has been declining, and more and more animals die prematurely. Here in the nation’s most prominent zoo, animals are locked up all day long in tiny spaces that seldom resemble their original habitat.

Several campaigns were launched with the aim of making the zoo a better environment for its inhabitants. Despite these efforts, reports keep spurring up of low-caliber nutritional and medical care.

Animals are very sensitive in captivity, and many lead short lives compared to their wild counterparts. Elephants, in particular, due to their high intelligence, evolved to be social animals that thrive on societal interactions. In her last years, Naiema was all on her own. She did some tricks with her trunk and made the children laugh, but we can never know how she truly felt about her captivity.

According to Enterprise, Mohamed Ragaey, the Giza Zoo’s managing body, announced that the zoo is currently in contact with the Ministry of Agriculture to get new animals.

WE SAID THIS: Mr. Ragaey, we implore you, unless the conditions of Egypt’s most prominent zoo are not made to be more humane, please do not import any new animals.